[INT. DIVINE STADIUM – DAY THREE OF ROUND TWO]
The divine sky above the arena shimmered as the third day of Round Two commenced. Energy pulsed through the stands, filled with students, spectators, and divine presences alike.
With only five matches left, tension was thick. Every team knew: one more win meant survival.
The Divine Board shimmered again:
> Match 11 – Kairo Ferin and Syleria Vaelum – School of Light
vs.
Zareth Yul and Freyna Meras – School of Elements
The Light School team cheered as Kairo and Syleria stepped forward, high-fiving Aria and Sylion as they passed.
> Veloria (grinning): "Time for the storm and fire to dance."
Rika: "Their synergy has always been one of the most terrifying."
Lyrion (quietly): "Let's see what they can do."
---
[INT. ARENA – MATCH 11 BEGINS]
Their opponents stood poised—Zareth, a stoic elemental guard known for his stone-hard defense, and Freyna, a fast-moving storm caster.
Kairo cracked his knuckles, fire already igniting around his arms. Syleria let sparks dance from her fingers, her long hair crackling with charged mana.
A faint shimmer twisted behind her — spatial distortions warping the air subtly.
> Zareth (to Freyna): "The Light kids. We play defensive—test their stamina."
Freyna: "Don't blink. The girl's lightning is unpredictable."
The bell rang.
---
[PHASE ONE – STORM IGNITION]
Syleria struck first, vanishing in a crack of thunder as a bolt of lightning shot through the arena. But this time—she reappeared through a slanted dimensional portal mid-arc, completely bypassing Freyna's defensive gust.
Freyna spun into a cyclone to deflect, but Syleria had already shifted space again — disappearing and materializing behind her.
Zareth rushed forward, meeting Kairo head-on with reinforced stone fists. Their clash erupted into a wave of fire and gravel.
> Kairo (smirking): "Let's heat things up."
He stomped the ground — flame serpents rose and spun around him like a wheel of destruction.
Freyna launched into the air, throwing down arcs of wind, while Syleria reappeared beside her, storm-blade drawn, warping through miniature tears in space.
> Syleria (deadpan): "Boom."
She exploded the charge mid-sentence — Freyna barely shielded herself in time.
---
[PHASE TWO – STRATEGIC TEMPO SHIFT]
Zareth began to absorb heat from Kairo's flames using core magic, neutralizing some of his offense.
> Zareth: "The earth remembers, even fire fades."
Kairo: "Then let's make a memory you can't handle."
Kairo adjusted — instead of raw offense, he began layering heat and pressure, disrupting the air around Zareth's defense. The arena itself shimmered with rising temperatures.
Meanwhile, Freyna tried using wind currents to isolate Syleria, pinning her into narrow pockets — but Syleria adapted.
She didn't just fuse thunder into her body — she threaded it through spatial gaps, folding her steps between dimensions.
> Freyna: "You can't dodge in close quarters!"
Syleria: "Who said I need to?"
She allowed herself to be struck — and then detonated an inward burst of storm energy and spatial feedback, tossing both herself and Freyna into the air.
Syleria flipped mid-air through a thin ripple of dimensional tear and landed with a three-point crash, perfectly balanced.
---
[PHASE THREE – DUAL DOMINANCE]
Kairo's fire turned silver-blue — a divine mutation of flame fueled by spiritual heat.
> Veloria (eyes widening): "That's… divine-elemental fusion."
Syleria's body glowed faintly — not only from storm sigils now, but space fractals etched across her collarbones and arms.
Her divine blood was awakening.
Zareth tried to summon a final wave of earth shields — but Kairo punched directly through them with a rotating fire vortex. Zareth was knocked back and pinned.
Freyna attempted a dive attack — only to be caught by surprise.
Syleria opened a looped dimensional ring, redirected a lightning bolt through Freyna's own wind tunnel, stunning her mid-cast.
Then with a space-folded whip of plasma, she bound Freyna's waist and slammed her downward in one continuous motion.
> Announcer: "Match 11 Winners: Kairo Ferin and Syleria Vaelum – School of Light!"
The crowd roared.
Lyrion stood and clapped slowly, proud.
> Rika: "They barely needed to speak. Just moved."
Auron (grinning): "Storm and flame. Not a bad combo."
---
[INTERLUDE – BETWEEN MATCHES]
In the quiet break before Match 13, Sylion and Aria stood by the edge of the waiting hall, hands interlocked.
> Sylion (gently): "Are you nervous?"
Aria: "A little."
Sylion: "Want to back out?"
Aria (smiling): "Not even slightly."
The bell sounded.
> Match 13 – Sylion Vaelum and Aria Liora – School of Light
vs.
Mekros Jand and Ruelle Fen – School of Living Creation
Their opponents emerged — Mekros, a heavy weapon illusionist, and Ruelle, a poison terrain conjurer.
> Mekros (mocking): "Space and songbirds. This'll be fun."
Ruelle: "Careful, Mek. The pretty ones are usually deadly."
Sylion and Aria exchanged a nod.
---
[INT. ARENA – MATCH 13 BEGINS]
Sylion opened first — folding space and shifting both himself and Aria backward while hurling pressure orbs toward Ruelle.
Aria began to hum — a melody of resonance. Her divine voice caused flowers to bloom even in the stone floor.
> Ruelle (narrowing eyes): "Counter with toxin!"
Ruelle conjured venomous vines — but they burned away under Aria's notes.
Mekros summoned duplicates of himself to strike Sylion from multiple angles, but Sylion predicted them, warping each clone's attack into itself.
> Sylion (cold): "Illusions don't work on those who see multiple layers."
He bent the platform into a mirror field — reflections of reality flickered as Mekros was disoriented.
> Aria (softly): "Let them hear the truth."
With a full aria, Aria shattered Ruelle's poison field — the sheer resonance dissolved her summoned terrain.
Ruelle gasped, dropping to her knees.
> Mekros: "Damn it!"
He lunged again — only to fall through a space-fold trap and appear above Sylion.
A gravity pulse launched him into the ceiling.
> Announcer: "Match 14 Winners: Sylion Vaelum and Aria Liora – School of Light!"
The crowd roared again.
> Veloria: "They're blooming."
Ray: "All of them are."
---
[INT. DIVINE BALCONY – GODS' OBSERVATION]
The Space Gods stood stoically as Sylion bowed faintly below.
> Serai (Space Goddess): "He's begun threading space fabric with intuition."
Vaelum ( Space Gid): "It will not be long before he reaches the Folded Depth."
Living Creation God Kaelith watched Aria sing.
> Kaelith: "And her voice… is strong enough to stir saplings into steel."
The Divine Board updated again:
> 28 Duos Battled
14 Advanced
1 Match Remaining
---
[INT. STADIUM ADMIN DESK – EVENING]
A divine warden approached the announcer's podium and whispered something.
The announcer raised a glowing sigil to his throat.
> Announcer: "Due to time constraints, the final match of today will be postponed to the fourth day."
A wave of murmurs rose — then fell.
---
[INT. LIGHT SCHOOL DORM – NIGHT]
The team returned, proud but worn.
> Rika (grinning): "That's eight of us through."
Ray: "Two more to go."
They all looked at Lyrion and Veloria — tomorrow's final match.
Lyrion smiled faintly.
> Lyrion: "We'll bring it home."
Veloria bumped his shoulder: "I'd be offended if we didn't."
---
TO BE CONTINUED…